A great night

Thanks for joining us for New Palestine's 16-14 win over Whiteland tonight. It was a different look from the Dragons as they aired it out. Connor Simmons was 18-of-29 for 213 yards, Max Disman threw a 19-yard TD on his only throw (and caught 5 passes for 60 yards) and Brandon Collins had 10 catches for 127 yards and a TD. NP's defense repeatedly stopped Whiteland and kept the ball deep in Warrior territory. Austin Monday ran for 68 yards and a first-half TD, and NP scored nine unanswered points in the third quarter -- with Whiteland only able to run three plays in-between -- and the Dragons' defense held the Warriors at bay in the fourth.

It was a big night for local teams. Mt. Vernon opened the Doug Armstrong era with an impressive 21-7 victory over Kokomo. It was the Wildkats' first regular-season loss since 2008 -- a span of 25 games. It snapped a 33-game winning streak over Indiana schools in the regular season. Greenfield-Central -- a team that is really poised for a big year -- had a 43-13 victory over New Castle.

Eastern Hancock opened the Pat Echeverria era by playing a close first half against Triton Central, but the Tigers pulled away to a 33-13 victory over EH.

All told, the HHC went 7-1 this weekend.
Delta had little trouble with Jay County, winning 55-0.
Defending sectional champ Pendleton Heights throttled Muncie Central 65-0.
Rushville knocked off rival Connersville 34-9 to keep the War on 44 trophy.
Yorktown beat Muncie South 27-20 in OT
The only defeat for a conference team was Shelbyville's 22-7 loss to Greensburg.

Next week: it's all non-conference games again.
Friday night's games: 
Greenfield-Central at Lebanon
Carroll (Allen) at Delta
Franklin at Shelbyville
New Castle at Rushville
Pendleton Heights at Anderson
Yorktown at Northwest
Saturday's games (at Warren Central)
New Palestine vs. Richmond, 10 a.m.
Mt. Vernon vs. Marion, 1 p.m.

Of course, we will have both of the Warren Central Classic games, as well as EH-South Decatur on Friday night. Join us on HancockCountySports.com!